Birthday Space Transfer!

Cara Famiglia,

Ciao Siena! Ciao Piacenza! I love that you can use the same word for goodbye and hello in Italian! But yeah, I am now out of Toscana and in the great city of Piacenza. It is basically halfway between Modena and Milano, and in fact the district is us, Reggio Emilia, and Modena, so I will finish in the same district I started in! My companion Anziano Benson went to Busto Arsizio!!!!! He is so lucky, that city rocks! My companion now is Anziano Thompson, who is also from Idaho Falls(in fact he went to the same high school as Anziano Benson), and who is in his third transfer. He did his first two in Busto, so it has been cool to hear what was going on there.

Seeing as how I literally just got here this morning, I'm not super up to date on the work but I can just say that it is stellar! Piacenza has seven baptismal dates and a ton of investigators! When President called to tell us where we were going he said 'Piacenza is leading the mission in baptismal dates' and in the rest of the district there are seven other dates. So we will have our hands full! My companion is awesome, I can already tell!

Thanks to everybody for the Birthday wishes! Special shout out to Grandpa and also the Benson family who sent me a really great card. I hope they know how awesome of a missionary their son is and how much he is going to tear it up in Busto.

My spiritual thought is really simple, but I really loved President Eyring's talk from the Sunday Morning session of Conference about the 'pavilion' blocking us from God. I would also cross-reference Elder Holland's talk and encourage us all to leave our nets behind and join the cause of Christ with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. I know that this decision we make will change our lives, and as we pray 'thy will be done' we will find our lives more fulfilling than whatever we could fill them with. I love you all lots, and I know this work is true!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Ciao da Mantova!

Cara Famiglia,

Well Verona is awesome, but I am actually not there right now. Monday we went and did a blitz scambio(where both my companion and I stay in the city and work there) in MODENA, and then yesterday we did the same thing in Reggio Emilia. We kind of missed the train to get back to Verona earlier so we are chilling in Mantova for a couple hours and doing e-mail here. It was really cool to go back and do some work in Modena, that city is so great.

Verona is awesome! My companion is Anziano Neff straight from East Milcreek, SLC, Utah! I think he lives really close to Grandpa. He's a really good companion and we're going to see great things happen this transfer.

The investigators we are currently teaching are as follows: Alessandro is a cool Romanian guy who used to be Evangelist but is now not really affiliated with any church. He really loves the Bible and was wondering why in our church last Sunday the women were allowed to speak in church! He's only been here in Italy for about 4 months but he speaks really well and is interested in reading the Book of Mormon. We will see what happens. We are also teaching Juliet, a Nigerian lady who is super cool and really wants to follow Jesus Christ. We set a baptismal date for the 31st of March and we will see how that goes. Other than that we are doing a bunch of scambi this week and the next couple weeks, and so we will not be in Verona super often but will really strive to find new investigators. Verona has a lot of people that are ready for the Gospel.

This week I really liked in Ether 6 when it talks about light. In verse ten it says: "And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water." I really liked that they had light continually, both spiritual and physical light. It is really cool that the light of the Gospel of Christ works in all situations in life to bring joy and happiness to someone's life. As we react to each and every situation we encounter the way Jesus Christ would act, our light will grow and the darkness around us won't matter. I know that Jesus Christ brings this true light into our lives, and that his church is guided by a living prophet. I love you all lots! Sorry this letter is kind of short!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Pictures from Modena

Pictures from Anziano Smith's previous area of Modena.

Ciao Modena!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Well, the time has come. I am leaving Modena to go to Busto Arsizio, a city north of Milano in the Como Zone! I am actually pretty sad to leave, I love this city! But I am also really excited to go to a new city and meet new people. My companion there will be Anziano Webb, who was in the MTC with me at the same time and he's a stud!

 

This week has been great! Although our investigators are kind of bumming us out with not coming to church and being free for appointments, they are still all great. Paolo will be baptized sooner or later, he is too good not to be. Also we picked up this awesome guy named Ciro from the Sorelle. He is a stud and also needs to get baptized. He's tight and he makes us amaaaaaazing food all the time. He's from Napoli so he's a great cook and is basically the coolest guy ever. If I ever visit Napoli I will stay at his house, it is already decided. He's also teaching me a bit of Napolitano, it's awesome. Chris, a friend of Castro, is also a stud investigator but super busy and doesn't have a working phone right now so it's almost impossible to see him.

 

I am really going to miss all the people here, especially the amazing ward. The people here are seriously awesome, and I love them all.

 

I was reading Alma 5 again this week, which is definitely my favorite chapter in the whole Book of Mormon. It's amazing. I've probably written home about it before, but it is definitely something to write home about. This time I was struck by verses 48 and 49, and I kind of want that to be my theme as a missionary, just bearing pure testimony of the Savior and the Restoration of His gospel all the time! I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer who has indescribable love for us. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity I have to Preach His Gospel here in Italy and help in the great work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I love you all so much!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Doin' Work

Cara Famiglia,
 
This week was good in Modena! Anziano Hutchinson and I are having a lot of fun and working super hard as well. We are doing a lot of finding work currently because our investigators are all super hard to reach/see. For example, Paolo, who is the man and will be baptized, works all week long and we can only see him on Sunday. If we could see him more he'd be baptized by the end of the week. Also Move to Napoli day from last week. But we are doing a lot of solid finding work, talking to a ton of people each day. My companion jokes about how many pass along cards I give out, I seriously go through like 50 a day. I'm hoping in the end it will work out! Even if one person reads one pass along card my entire mission and actually decides to listen it will be a victory! We are also cruising along on our goal to give out Books of Mormon this transfer, it's awesome.
 
We had our last District Meeting on Monday and had the Traveling Assistants come and do a sweet addestramento about how to get investigators to pray! It was sooo good and obvious and simple, but so genius. So we are excited to help investigators pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true. We also had a sweet in-depth discussion about Moroni 10:3-5, it's such a solid, true passage of scripture. Other than that Modena is going great. Dunno if I mentioned last week but we got a new Bishopric in the ward, which was surprising. But it was our Ward Mission Leader, and now we still don't have one, so we're kind of in limbo.
 
 This week I really liked a passage from 2 Corinthians, chapter 12 verses 6-10. It's a super good passage about humility and overcoming weaknesses. Every day as missionaries I think it's good to work on a weakness, because through Christ our weaknesses become strengths! It's like the mathematic example from Believing Christ, where even if my talents are only 2 on a scale of 10, with the infinite power of Christ it equals infinity! Kind of a cool thought I think. Can I just say I love being a missionary? This is already decisively the best two years of my life, and it's not even halfway done yet. I love this work, I love bearing my testimony every day, I love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day, and I love you all! Thanks so much for everything!
 
-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Modena Week 17!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Well it sounds like everybody at home had a busy and fun week doing lots of things, but I have you beat because I'm on a mission in Italy! Ha! Pride aside(and also bad rhymes), this week was excellent, and today we are going to Parma for P-Day to go bowling with the Anziani from Reggio and Piacenza!

 

We had a sweet lesson with Paolo this week, he basically taught us about prayer and feeling the Holy Ghost. I love teaching him because the spirit is always super strong, probably how it should be in all lessons. He's really humble and sincere and definitely has a strong desire to strengthen his relationship with God, so we are excited to help him progress. He's sooo going to get baptized and sealed in the temple. The only problem is he works a ton during the week so we can only see him on Sundays after church. We also taught a good lesson with the miracle guy, Giuseppe, who is also trying to find God in his life. He's given us three bidoni though, and each time we had a member there with us. But we are still workin with him. Unfortunately we dropped Michael for now, he wasn't really progressing enough, but we are working hard to find some new investigators and help them progress. The work is going really good here.

 

This week also had the worst day of my mission. Last Friday we had four straight awesome appointments fall through, including two with a member. The worst part is that as part of one of the appointments falling through, one of our best investigators, Bouba, moved to Napoli without saying anything! It was a major bummer. And then literally 30 minutes later we called one of the other investigators who had given us a bidone and he had also moved to Napoli! It was literally Move-to-Napoli day, and it was not fun. But it was a good learning experience about how to cope with some major disappointment.

 

There was also a sweet zone conference this week, again held in Modena. We learned a lot about just how to be better in every way, especially in using the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon! I dunno if I mentioned but we had a goal to give out 50 copies this transfer and we are currently at 29, so we are on track to reach the goal. It's awesome to give people a copy of the greatest book in the entire world, for free too! We always try to literally pour out our testimony to people when we give them the Book of Mormon, it's really great.

 

Well this week I really liked reading some stuff in Doctrine and Covenants Section 6. My favorite is verses 22-23, which was conveniently already highlighted in my scriptures. It's a really good thought that we don't really ever lose a testimony, we just forget it momentarily! It made me think of the part in the New Testament where Jesus says the Holy Ghost will bring all things to our remembrance. A lot of times I think we need to simply confirm our testimony, not ask for a whole new one. I'm really grateful for the testimony I have that Jesus Christ lives as our Savior and Redeemer, who atoned for all of us. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know this church is true, and this work is amazing!

 

I loooooooooooooove you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Sempre a Modena!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Buon Giorno! E oggi veramente è un buon giorno, perchè siamo venuti a Verona per P-Day! It's a good thing we weren't here two weeks ago when you guys were, but this city is more beautiful than I remember! It is awesome to see everything.

 

This week has had some good work going too. We are continuing to work with Michael; when it comes down to it his biggest hurdle is coming to church. I think we simply need to get him more involved with the members and help him get rides and stuff, so we'll be working on that. I second Palmer's comment about the killer no-show of progressing investigators at church, it's a major bummer, but life goes on. We also on a whim gave this potential investigator about his 10th chance to meet with us after a ton of no-shows for lessons. We show up to teach him, and he is super receptive to the gospel and totally gets everything! His name is Asantis, he is from Ghana and currently staying at a Caritas place while he's looking for work to help his family out back in Africa, but he is reading the Book of Mormon and loving it, and now has a baptismal date for July 2nd! We are really excited!

 

This week we had an awesome experience. We had gotten a bidone and were on our way to do some finding when a guy who was driving his car past us stopped his car and called out to us. He asked 'Are you those Americans that talk about Jesus with everybody?' And we said 'Yeah!!' and he then said 'Great! Here's my address and phone number, come see me tomorrow!' His name was Giuseppe. We ended up meeting him two days later, and found out he is the father of a less-active teen in our ward who is going through a really rough time in his life and needs the gospel. I know that the Lord has prepared this person to hear our message and that through the Atonement he will find new peace in his life that he is searching for. It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares people!

 

Another awesome thing was that we had four investigators in church this week! It was really cool, and we are working with some of them to help them progress more. One of them is a potential miracle of a lifetime, I will explain when the success happens though.

 

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, who gave his life to help bring this cause to light, and I am glad I get to share this knowledge with people every day, no matter how many people reject it. Bearing testimony everyday rocks. Loving the people rocks too. I know this work is true.

 

I loooooove you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Italia!

Cara Famiglia!

 

[Background note: Benjamin's mom, two brothers and a cousin just visited Italy... without telling Benjamin that they went. Only after leaving did they inform him, to which he responds:] That is....insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane!! I am actually quite impressed you kept that trip a secret so well. Unbelievable. My mind was literally completely blown when I read that email. But glad you enjoyed Italy, it is the bomb.

 

Modena is doing great! It's too bad you guys didn't stop by, the weather has been pretty nice and Modena is a good city. Today we are going to the Ferrari Factory with the Anziani from Piacenza and Reggio.

 

Our investigators are....doing well? Michael has basically stopped progressing, we can tell he's just not reading the BoM or really praying about the stuff we leave him with, kind of a big bummer. We had a lesson to try and jump start him on keeping commitments that went pretty well, we will see if he can do that. We have also found some other new investigators that we are hoping to have progress. Castro is a gold mine for referrals, we need to ask him more! He is so good, he always has someone who he thinks would be ready to hear about the gospel. One of his friends is named Chris and accepted a baptismal challenge so we are going to be working with him to get there.

 

We had another Zone type mission meeting here in Modena yesterday, it was awesome. We had some really awesome training things from President and the Assistants about utilizing the spirit more in teaching. I think it was something specifically aimed at us, to help us become better teachers. We also talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ, that is, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. It is cool to see just how much we need to make it not just a thing we can recite but to make it a way of life! It gives me a lot of focus and drive to get better, and just generally become more Christlike.

 

I really liked reading over some stuff in Doctrine and Covenants section 84, it is way good. Verses 79, 85, and 88 are some of my favorites, and the promises they give are really good. My testimony about missionary work has definitely grown (obviously!) since I have been out here on the mission, and I am so grateful to be able to serve the Lord for two years. I know the Lord really is watching over us and all we do, and the promises in the Doctrine and Covenants about missionaries are real. I love you all, all the time!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

 

P.S. Pictures! From around Modena, with Anziano Scheurn and Anziano Portellano, the tomb of St. Geminiano, and making pizza!

Still in Modena?????

Cara Famiglia,

 

The answer is yes! I am staying in Modena. Anziano Kimball, however, is not so lucky, as he is being transferred to GENOVA!! He is going to be training again aaaand opening a new companionship! Pretty intense! He is super excited though, his brother served in Genova in the Milan mission about 10 years ago. My new companion will be Anziano Hutchinson, who is one transfer above me, I knew him in the MTC and he's a really good guy, so I'm looking forward to serving with him.

 

This week was pretty exciting. The first thing I would bring your attention to would be last Thursday. Guess how many lessons we had planned? Answer: 9. Guess how many fell through? Answer: 9. Buuuuuut, it was still an awesome day because we taught three new lessons and picked up three new investigators, two of which are now progressing! And one accepted a baptismal commitment! And they were all even Italians! So even though that day was kind of rough it ended up being dang good. Also, for the second time in my mission so far, a family invited us over for dinner after knowing us for only about 10 minutes. It was great, but unfortunately they weren't really interested in the gospel. But we did get a nice Italian dinner. Our other investigators are doing well. Paolo is an awesome guy who is the companion of a sister in our ward, i.e. they are not married but live together with a kid. He's known the church basically his whole time being together with this lady but only just recently said he'd be interested in learning about the gospel. I don't know if I've mentioned him in previous emails since we've only taught him two or three times, but he is a stud, really sincerely wanting to find God in his life. At our appointment on Sunday after church, he showed us that he had taken a bunch of notes on the Alma 32 reading assignment we left him! It was awesome! I loooove when investigators keep commitments. Our other investigators are doing great too, progressing along pretty nicely. Pray for them!

 

This week in studying for Paolo's lessons we were reading about faith and I was really impressed with the Hebrews 11 and Ether 12 team-up. They both just give a run down of amazing miracles all throughout scriptual history wrought by FAITH! It was literally awesome, to see how much Faith is a principle of power. It is also good to know how to increase your faith based on Alma 32. I still always remember the quote I think from Sister Hekking who wasn't even my seminary teacher, but who says 'great faith has a short shelf life.' I know that as we read and hear the word of God, and pray, our faith will increase! I've seen it go up a lot since I've been out here, and every day and night I pray that I can have enough faith to work miracles here in Italy. And it works! I challenge everyone reading this to improve their faith every day, it makes life much better.

 

I love being out here in Modena! I love Italy! I love being able to wake up and go out to spend 100% of my time serving the Lord, without having to worry about school or anything! I know Heavenly Father answers prayers, even if it's not always the way we expect! I love you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

The Saga of the Fridge Lives on!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Sorry I keep mentioning the fridge in the subject line. Let it be known that even with being fridge-less for 3 weeks now we are still working super hard. But yeah, they said it should be ready today, so we are really hoping and praying it is so we can get some real groceries again.

 

The work is going good in Modena! We are continuing to work with Michael towards baptism, although he is a little flaky on appointments recently. We will probably have to push his baptismal date back to early June. But one cool thing is that we recently picked up an awesome investigator named Bouba! He is a Muslim guy from Guinea who doesn't speak Italian very well (apparently they speak French there), but after reading the Book of Mormon and praying he believes in Jesus Christ being the Son of God and wants to be baptized! The only problem is he doesn't want to do it anytime soon because if he does his brother will kick him out of the house and he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Pray for him! He is super solid. Fortunately one of the recent RMs speaks French though, so we will be taking him to most of our lessons with Bouba.

 

Other than our major investigators we are doing a lot of finding work. Also, this is my week to be Senior Companion for this transfer! It is kind of nerve wracking since I am still by all standards very young in the mission making calls and setting up appointments and stuff, but I am learning a lot. Anziano Kimball is a great example of a missionary too, so I don't have to pull things out of the air as to what the Senior Comp. should be doing.

 

Recently in district meeting we had an awesome discussion about the 'Bear Testimony Frequently' section in Preach my Gospel (Pg. 198 in English). It has some really great stuff about why testimonies are so powerful and how to use it. They taught us a lot in the MTC about how our testimony is the most powerful thing we use to teach, and I have definitely found that to be true. I would encourage everyone to read it and think about how you can strengthen your testimony by bearing it frequently! It really works. I'm grateful for the testimony I have that the Book of Mormon is true, God is our loving Heavenly Father, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It feels good to bear your testimony all day, every day, no matter what the results are. I know that this work is true and is led by God. I really liked the simple remark from Marcel's letter where he talks about how everybody, no matter what their circumstances, needs Christ. It's so simple but true! We run into people all the time who say 'Oh my life is good right now, don't worry about it.' And I just think 'ahhh but there is so much more!!' I'm truly grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be a servant in the Lord's vineyard, and to help bring about the Lord's work daily.

 

I love you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Food poisoning! And another broken fridge!

Cara Famiglia,

This week was pretty interesting. It started off good last week, when we got our new fridge! But it only worked for an evening, so...still waiting on the repairs for it. Hopefully it arrives either tonight or tomorrow morning. Modena is still great though, the weather is awesome and we are picking up the pace with finding work since a lot of our potential investigators aren't panning out. We have a couple awesome ones though, including a surprise one who now wants to be baptized, named Eric! He's tight. Also we have Michael who should be baptized on the 28th. Pray for them both!

To explain the first part of the subject, let it be known that over the weekend about 150 of the Young Single Adults (GANS) in Italian came to Modena for an activity. They had a dance Saturday night and then a Sacrament meeting Sunday morning, so the regular ward meeting was pushed back to 4:30 in the pm. After church on Sunday, some of the ward members pushed some food off on us, including a rice meal. Naturally, as polite missionaries, we gladly took it home. Fast forward to Monday lunch time, and we're like, "Hey, let's eat this leftover rice from the GANS activity for lunch! Good plan, Anziano!" So we each heat up a bowl. Anziano Kimball wolfed his portion down, but I only took a bite cause I wasn't feelin it. I ended up just eating chips and some other random stuff in the kitchen for lunch. An hour later the party began! Anziano Kimball succumbed to food poisoning, and so we ended up staying in the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday. It was rough on him, although he didn't seem as bad as when I had food poisoning in High School. He's feelin about 90% now though, and it's P-Day so we should be ready to get back on track tonight and finish out the week strong.

This week since we were inside for a couple days I got to read and study the scriptures a lot, which was pretty enjoyable actually. It kind of felt like being in the MTC again, where you just have a ton of time to study. I was really impressed by another verse about the Stripling Warriors, in Alma 53:20:

And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

I love reading about the stripling warriors because they are examples of absolute obedience, unrestrictive of time or place. The example they set for us is ridiculous! But the blessings the received are so true. I know that obedience is the key to success here on the mission, and I'm grateful for a trainer and companion who helps with that. I know that this work is true, and that Heavenly Father prepares his children to accept the Gospel. I know that Jesus is the Christ, and he leads his church today through living prophet. I know the Book of Mormon is true!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Buona Pasqua with a Broken Fridge!

Cara Famiglia,

This week was full of events! From the subject you might have realized that last wednesday our frigorifero(one of my favorite Italian words) broke. So last week we got all non-refrigerated groceries i.e. no milk, yogurt, cheese, meat, or veggies. This week our meal of choice at lunch was pasta with red sauce. Good times. We got out new fridge today, and it is great. We are looking forward to being able to eat cold things again. Also, apparently this week was Easter! The holidays really creep up on you here in the mission because you don't have all the decorations that build up to it usually. At least not in our apartment. It was good though, during Sunday School we watched the 'Finding Faith in Christ' movie which I hadn't seen in a looong time. I think it's really cool that they do it from Thomas' perspective. Then in Sacrament Meeting there were some good talks about the resurrection and the risen Christ. They also had a special musical number that I know is one of the CDs that Dad plays every Sunday, in English I think it's called 'The Lord is my Good Shepherd', but it's not the 'The Lord is My Shepherd' that's in the hymnbook. We also had the great idea to go around and give out copies of 'Il Cristo Vivente' to the people we talked too. We probably could've used the week before Easter a little more to our advantage, but oh well we will do better next time.

We had a couple good referral lessons this week, one was a referral from Napoli. He lived in a little town called Crevalcore (which reminded me of Zoppola!) that is about an hour away on bus from Modena. We gave him a Book of Mormon with a dedica from the guy who gave the referral and had a lesson about it. He seemed really interested and was an awesome guy, notwithstanding the fact that his accent was quite different. But he's moving back down to Napoli this week so we're hoping the missionaries there pick him up. We also went to lunch at a member lady's house on Pasqua and her companion (I dunno what the proper term would be) who isn't a member was apparently interested in learning more about the church, so we taught him a lesson about prayer and the Restoration. His name is Paolo and he's a really cool guy who lived in the USA for a while, so we're going to teach him some more and hope he progresses. Israel is still a stud, he is actually coming to church this week! The big hurdle is getting him to commit to not just come this one Sunday, but to covenant with the Lord so he can receive more blessings by coming every single week! Unfortunately, his mom kicked him out of the house last night, so he is currently out of living arrangments. Pray for him!

The music-ness never stops, fortunately! Since Sister Willey who is in Modena is amazingly awesome at cello (she played in the Orchestra at Temple Square for a couple years) our ward is holding a music fireside on Sunday May 8th! She is playing a couple of songs, and I even get to accompany her on a version of I Am a Child of God! I also get to play piano for Anziano Kimball singing Come Thou Fount, the same version that Anziani Bushman and Scheurn sang with me in the MTC. It's gonna be awesome, and we're giving out people flyers for that too.

This week we taught a cool lesson to a less-active member about the Liahona, and so we were planning on following mom's idea from when I was in Primary to spray paint this baseball in out apartment gold and decorate it like the Liahona. Unfortunately, all we could do was color it yellow with a marker and then we forgot to even bring it! But we still had the lesson, and I was impressed by 1 Nephi 16 and Alma 37, where much of the information on the Liahona comes from. It is a great allegory, being such a small device that works great miracles, of daily scripture study in prayer. I particularly liked the last four verses in Alma 37:

44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.
 45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.
 46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.
 47 And now, my son, see that ye take care of these sacred things, yea, see that ye look to God and live. Go unto this people and declare the word, and be sober. My son, farewell.

I know 100% that the little things are the most important. I am incredibly grateful for the Book of Mormon because every day I open it, read it, and feel the spirit while learning something new. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it answers our questions while at the same time bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that my redeemer lives, and that this work in Italy is being directed by Him. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Doin[g] Work in Modena

Cara Famiglia,

 

This week has been pretty good in Modena. The work has definitely slowed down compared to when I first arrived, but it is still going great. We had a big breakthrough with Israel this week where he agreed to just go in and tell his bosses that he couldn't work anymore on Sundays so that he could come to church and then be baptized! It only went okay though, the boss is apparently making him come in one last Sunday before he lets him not work on Sunday anymore. We'll see how that goes. Pray for him! He's too ready for baptism to miss out. Anziano Kimball and I are also liking doing this thing in our mission called 'Venti Inviti', or, 20 invites. Every day outside of scheduled proselyting work the mission goal is to invite 20 people to hear about the gospel, basically when you're in between appointments or finding areas. We usually kind of struggle to do it, which is a bummer. But recently we have been a lot more diligent! It is great, whenever we do the venti inviti everything in the day just seems better. Another great thing about the mission is that we just instantly start teaching and testifying when we talk to people, we almost never even introduce ourselves! It is awesome even when no one lets you in all day. You feel great because you spent your day bearing your testimony 100+ times!

 

Today we had a fun P-day where we went slacklining with our new convert Castro. Basically you string a really tight line between two trees maybe 20 or 30 feet apart at about waist height. Then it's just like tightrope walking! It was really fun, I definitely want to do it on some other P-days, and I'm attaching some pictures [included below].

 

 I very much enjoyed Dad's email about the things learned in Sunday School. I've always been impressed with the bread of life analogy and such. It reminds me of these awesome scriptures in 2 Nephi 26: 25 and 27:

 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price. ...
 27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.

Jesus is alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllways waiting for us. All the time! It's like how I was just in the post office waiting for my number to be called so I could mail a package, except it's always your turn. You just have to walk up to the desk! The atonement is such a miracle, it's so simple but unfathomable. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from all time fromBelieving Christ: "Mercy, by definition, is only mercy if we don't deserve it." It's amazing to think that for all the justice that everyone deserves, it can all be swallowed up by the mercy of the atonement! I'm grateful for the knowledge that Jesus Christ is my Savior and suffered, died, and was resurrected for everybody! We just need to come unto him. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and truly testifies of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His church. I know that the Lord is directing this work and I love being here to spread the gospel 100% every day.

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Working Hard

Famiglia!

 

This week has been a good week in Modena, the first week of this transfer. Anziano Kimball is still adjusting to being District Leader but he's doing a great job, he's a stud missionary. Today we had interviews and training stuff in Verona so that was cool, I should be going there on a scambio tomorrow or so. The work here in Modena is doing very well, we are basically going through our massive list of contacts we've gotten from talking to tons of people and finding out who is really interested. The other day we had a cool experience where we had about an hour free so we went to this park type area. We talked to the first person we saw sitting on a bench and he was super cool, a guy named Degraft from Ghana. We taught him a little lesson and got his info, so we're hoping to keep that going. Then, we biked like 20 feet to the next bench, and had another awesome little lesson with these two Peruvians! Their names are Amelia and Giorgio, Giorgio doesn't really speak Italian but we were able to throw some Spanish in there to help him understand. Thank you MHS for your four years of Spanish classes! They are really cool and we met them again in the park a couple of days later to give them each a copy of the BoM in Spanish. Anziano Kimball has a Spanish Preach My Gospel so we are working on getting the baptismal invite in Spanish for them haha. We also knocked into a kid named Michael the other day, also from Ghana. He is really interested but his Dad is really not interested to put it lightly, so we can't really teach him. But! He turns 18 on May 5, so we may re-start teaching him then. Also, keep praying for Israel to find work so he can come to church on Sunday, or just that he can put his faith in the Lord and come to church anyway!

 

I love this missionary work of helping bring people to Christ! We taught a lesson about parables to a recent convert the other week and it was really cool to learn about what a master teacher Christ was. Even from simple stories of stuff we can learn great and fundamental principles. It is truly refreshing how simple the gospel is! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it helps us become so much closer to Christ. I know that everyone on the earth is a child of God, with a Father who loves them unconditionally no matter what experiences we have on earth. Affliction is just an opportunity to show our love back!

 

Ciao!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

P.S. Also, happy birthday to Kevin! I wrote it down in my planner so I wouldn't forget to write in the email! Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours! Also I'm sending a present home for him.

Conference!

Ciao Cara Famiglia!

 

This week was basically highlighted by General Conference! We got to see the Saturday Morning session live on our Saturday night, and then Priesthood, Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning(live) all on Sunday. It was great! They had some really good stuff, which I unfortunately cannot remember since I pulled an Anziano Smith and forgot my notes! I remember I liked President Uchtdorf's talk about living beneath Priesthood Privileges during the Priesthood Session, and hearing about the history of the Welfare Program. I also really liked the analogies David A. Bednar gave for receiving revelation; turning on a light switch vs. a sunrise. And the Waiting on the Road to Damascus talk from Pres. Uchtdorf. Too awesome! However, the best part was probably the shout out to the Rome Temple! We were talking to our Bishop about it afterwards and apparently he was at the groundbreaking ceremony and got to turn some ground! Right now I'm listening to some talks from Sunday Afternoon as I'm writing since we missed out on that session. We were going to print out all the talks we missed here in the internet place, but unfortunately the text isn't available until tomorrow! So I guess we'll just print them out next week.

 

Other than that this week has been pretty normal. Other big news is that Anziano Kimball and I are staying together for at least another transfer. They are actually adding a companionship of Sorelle here in Modena, so there are going to be six missionaries here in Modena and that will be our district! We will be the only Anziani, so Anziano Kimball will be the new DL. Should be good times. The new sister will be whitewashing here in Modena and training as well, and then one of the sisters who is already here is getting a new companion. The sisters are going to have the area divided for each companionship, and then we still cover the whole area.

 

Our investigators are going pretty well. Israel, who is Irese's brother and also Samson's cousin is really solid, he just can't get work off on Sunday! They also have a family friend named Sharon who has been present at a lot of the lessons we've taught their family. Both of them are basically ready to get baptized, they just need to come to church more. The main thing we're working on though is doing 20 invites every day to people we see in between finding activities and appointments. It's a mission standard of excellence to do so we're trying to do all 20 every day. It's cool because when we focus on doing it everything else seems to go better! The biggest hurdle is getting over ourselves and just not having fear of talking to anybody.

 

This week I received some missionary inspiration from 3 Nephi 7:18. Nephi is such a stud, he teaches so powerfully and strongly that it's impossible for the people to disbelieve him! And even when they couldn't not believe him, and they witnessed his miracles, they were still angry with him! I don't get some people. It inspired me in a couple ways - 1) We should try to teach with power and authority as much as possible, using boldness but not overbearance. This is a tough one for me because I have never been a super bold person, especially in sharing the gospel. But I have seen my fears of just walking up and talking to someone about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ diminish with lots of practice. 2) We are looking for the elect! Even when we teach really well and we know someone feels the spirit, they may not choose to act on it. It's a bummer, but we need to be finding the people that will receive us. I know that this work is truly the work of God! We are servants in the Lord's vineyard, and he is helping every day. I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I love sharing this knowledge with the people of Italy!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Double Baptism All the Way!

Cara Famiglia!

 

This week was excellent! Last Thursday we headed off to Zone Conference in Verona. I didn't remember it all too well from when Mom and I went but it really is a beautiful city. It was really good, we talk a lot about the importance of inspired questions. One of my favorite things to do as a missionary is to think of really good questions that really dig deep in people to find out how the gospel can really help them. Even just asking why a lot is great! But in Zone Conference we took Jesus' example and asked some of his inspired questions to ourselves. It's really powerful asking yourself questions like "Whom say ye that I am?" "Where is your faith?" "Will you also leave me?" and "Lovest thou me?" It reminds me of how every transfer we do the Christlike Attribute activity in Preach My Gospel, which is great! Sometimes it feels like a game you can just never win, but it's good to try and progress to be more like the Savior.

 

On Friday we had an excellent day! I did my fingerprinting for my Permesso di Soggiorno so in about a month I should be totally legit here in Italy. Friday night was even better! Castro Ohene and Irese Asemota entered the waters of baptism, in addition to Castro's niece Jennifer! It was awesome. Samson got to baptize Irese since he got the Aaronic Priesthood last Sunday, Anziano Kimball baptized Castro, and an awesome recent RM from the ward named Jon Volpe baptized Jennifer. I've attached pictures. They are all amazing. Unfortunately though, at the time of this writing Irese has moved back to Nigeria and Samson is in Vicenza for a while before he goes to Holland to marry his fiancee! But we're hoping and praying that they stay strong and active in their wards. We even helped them find the addresses for the ward buildings nearest them. One of the best feelings in the world is giving recent converts a triple after they are baptized! That is our go to gift. Samson was already getting really interested in the Pearl of Great Price before he left! We hooked him up with a PGP manual that we found in our apartment.

 

Not much else is going on here in Modena. The weather is finally getting pretty nice, we are looking forward to when we can take our jackets off in the middle of April. Also today we finally made it to the Ferrari Factory! They have some pretty nice cars, some of which they let you test drive. Only 60 Euro for 10 minutes, and only 500 Euro for an hour drive to the mountains! We actually asked them and they just let us sit in it for free, I will attach pictures of that as well.

 

In preparation for General Conference I've been reading some of the talks from the last general conference. They are all so good! I was recently reading Richard G. Scott's talk "The Transforming Power of Faith and Character" and it is really good. 'You become what you want to be by consistently being what you want to become each day.' It applies really well to missionary work because we always have things to improve on. If we want to be a successful missionary, or obedient, or spiritual, we have to do those things every day! I can't just decide one day halfway through my mission to become the missionary I want to be, it requires work. I'm doing my best to keep improving each day so that I can look back on my mission and say 'I have no regrets; I did my best.' Keep doing the little things everybody, the church is true!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

It's Raining Baptisms

Cara Famiglia,

 

I feel so spoiled in Modena! Everything is too good. But anyway this week was great! We've been doing a lot of teaching and running around to appointments, it actually felt really strange today during P-Day when we had a free hour of nothing. I was soooo bored! I thought to myself 'I would rather be out tracting than just sitting in the apartment.' But oh well, P Day is still good to relax. Next week we have plans to go to the Ferrari Factory place and then play soccer with one of our investigators who is getting baptized on Friday! This Friday is going to be epic, Castro is getting baptized along with two of his nieces(who the sisters taught). We are also hoping and praying that our other investigator, Irese, who is Sampson's cousin can be baptized on Friday. She is being interviewed by one of the President's counselors tomorrow while we're at Zone Conference in Verona, so pray that that can go well.

 

Other than that we have some new and old investigators progressing nicely. It's sad because Sampson and Irese are actually leaving Italy forever like next week! Sampson is leaving for Vicenza this weekend and then moving to Holland to be with his fianceè, and Irese is going back to Nigeria to be with her husband! We are going to miss them a lot, they are an amazing and super spiritual family. Sampson's other cousin and the brother of Irese, Israel, is a really smart guy who is progressing and very interested. The only problem is his work schedule that keeps him from being able to get to church, although apparently he is interviewing for some other job soon.

 

Last week something awesome happened! We were tracting in these really new palazzi and it was going okay, and we knocked on this door and he wasn't super interested, but we kept talking and he let us in! It turns out he was way nice, his wife(I think they're married, you can never tell here!) and 9 year old daughter were also there. We talked to them for like 20 minutes about what we believe and gave them a Book of Mormon with some reading to do. And then they invited us over for dinner! We were so shocked at how nice they were. They actually really remind me of the Barringer family in our ward. So we went over to their house last night and had dinner which was cool, and taught them a half-lesson about the Plan of Salvation. They seemed interested and had definitely done the reading we left, so we are hoping to get back and help them progress towards baptism! They would be the best addition to the ward here, they're so nice!

 

We also have a cool investigator named Guido who is really sincere. His biggest hangup is the idea of a God allowing suffering in the world. It's a tough question to answer sometimes, but we are making some great progress thanks to the scriptures! There are answers in there for everything!

 

Anyway, not much else going on here. I did another scambio in Piacenza with the District Leader, it was fun. Scambi are good times. Also the ward is still awesome, we are working on getting better at bringing members to lessons since we have so many that are willing to come and help out!

 

In studying for our lessons for Guido we look for scriptures about optimism in the face of adversity and how it's always a choice, no matter what, to be happy even if your circumstances are really terrible. We left him Doctrine and Covenants 122 to read, and I hope he does because it's really powerful! Another good scripture is Alma 28:12 and 14. Verse 12 is good about having hope for the righteous that are slain, and than verse 14 is great about missionary work and the effect it can have! One of my favorite things that happens here in Italy is people just willing to talk to us for like 20 minutes. Whenever we have conversations like that we also feel really good about it because we could just teach and testify, even if the numbers don't show a lesson or baptism or anything. It's good to make the non-number missionary work effective. I know this church is true and that the Lord really does prepare people gradually to hear the gospel. It's amazing to see!

 

I love everybody!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Email Lost

Boo! I wrote a nice email and thanks to the internet it's allllllllll gone. Suffice it to say this week was good. Sampson got baptized and then confirmed on Sunday. Pictures should be attached. We're hoping to have a five or six person baptism day on March 26th, so pray for that to happen. This week's spiritual thought is D&C 123:13-17. Waste and wear out your lives in spreading the gospel, even through small things!

-Anziano Smith

Modena Week 2

Cara Famiglia,

 

This week has been a good one in Modena! The weather has gotten a lot better than it was my first week. It's been at least sunny almost every day since last Tuesday.

 

So the big news this week is that we are hopefully having Sampson's baptism on Saturday! He's being interviewed tomorrow, so pray that that goes well and he can be baptized. We also have 2 baptisms scheduled for the 26th of this month, and then hopefully one the week after that, with another one on either of those days. Our goal is to get 6 baptisms for the transfer and we have five of them pretty for sure! It's a good time to be here in Italy, especially in Modena.

 

So yeah didn't really mention this much in the last email, but my companion is Anziano Kimball from Highland, Utah. He's a super cool guy and a great missionary, really good about taking the work seriously and is very obedient which is great. We get along together well, and are working hard.

 

The ward here is amazing! We have about 45 people that come regularly every week and we have a really nice ward building. It seems brand new, I don't know how old it actually is. We even have three guys in the ward who have all gotten back from serving missions in the past 2 months! Two brothers, who went to Paris and London respectively, and then one guy also named Sampson who served in the Rome Mission and gave his homecoming talk my first Sunday here. Everyone is great, and excited to do missionary work because they want Modena to be part of a stake.

 

Anziano Kimball and I are the only two Elders here, there are also two sisters, Sorella Langham and Sorella Snodgrass. They are good as well. Our district also includes Reggio nell'Emilia (they actually had a nice baptism in our chapel last Saturday that was cool), and Piacenza where our district leader is. I had a fun exchange in Piacenza with the DL's companion last Friday/Saturday, we had a sweet experience where some guy flagged us down as we were biking home for the night and talked with us with his wife for about 20 minutes about who we were. We got to give him a Book of Mormon and bear testimony and it was great. They are from Pisa but they were in Piacenza for work and apparently the man was always curious about who we are. Apparently there's some lame 'documentary' going around Europe that confuses Mormons with the Amish. And a lot of people mistake us for Jehovah's Witnesses too.

 

So this morning I really liked reading Helaman 3:35, in relation to Alma 17:2-3. It talks about how important prayer and fasting are and how we can grow in joy in our soul! It's great. The scriptures are amazing. I know this church is true and that the work here is truly inspired of God, and I'm amazingly grateful for the opportunity to work with the people here!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Modena Modena Modena! -- First Letter from the Field

Ciao!

 

So here I am in Modena, Italia. Yes, that Modena that is the birthplace to Ferrari and Lamborghini. We should be hitting up the museum for them one of these P-Days. Anyhoo, let's see if I can remember anything about getting here.

 

Flights were good, I still hate flying. We arrived in Milan about 5 pm and walked out of the terminal where the President and his assistants were waiting. So we got all our bags and everything and drove to the mission home in Opera, which is a southern suburb of Milan. We had some orientation stuff and did interviews with President Wolfgramm, and then did some tracting. I was quite nervous. It was Anziani Webb, Murray, Gray(one of the assistants) and I. We went and knocked doors in a couple Palazzi, it was awesome hearing real Italian! Even though I couldn't understand like anything. We had a fun experience where Anziano Gray left us to try it alone while he hid behind a corner, so we were talking to the guy and he said something really fast that none of us understood, so then Anziano Murray was like "....so can we come back another time and talk more?" Then he was like "oh, maybe." Turns out that what we didn't understand was that he said "I'm not interested and I'd prefer if you guys didn't come back." Fun stuff! We actually did get two return appointments though, one lady knew who we were and tried to invite us in like 5 times but we couldn't. After about 45 mins of that, we went back to the mission home and went out to a local restaurant for pizza. Italian food is soooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooooooood. I don't even remember what type of pizza I got or what exactly was on it, but it was delicious.

 

That night we actually got to sleep in a hotel in Opera, and then the next morning we went to the ward building in Milan for the Milan 2nd ward, where we found out our cities! I got Modena, in case you didn't know. Anziano Scheurn went up to Lecco, Anziano Portellano went to Torino, Anziano Wilkey to Prato, Anziano Russo to Pesaro, Anziano Warren to Udine, Anziano Murray to Ancona, and Anziano Cluff to Siena. Good stuff, some of the Anziani from the other district went to Trieste, Savona, Vicenza, Pisa, Alessandria, and I don't remember where else.

 

So then Anziano Kimball and I got on the train to Modena, it was about a 2 hour ride. The first night here was sweet. We got to the apartment, which is ridiculously large. It's just the two of us, but we have two bathrooms, a bedroom, a clothes room, a study room with two big desks, a living room, and a kitchen. I will try to send pictures. Also our landlord guy is amazing, his name is Silvio and when he talks to anyone he says "hai capito?" and the end of almost every sentence. We have a view of a couple soccer fields right outside our windows. So anyway, we put my stuff in the apartment and then headed out on our bikes. Modena is fun to bike around in because it's completely flat. First we went and visited a former investigator named Lorrena who we serve by helping her dad Angelo get up and walk around, he's pretty old so he needs some help with that. Then we went and taught a lesson to a guy we're teaching named Castro from Ghana. He's a stud! We taught him the Restoration lesson and I gave him the baptismal commitment and he accepted! He should be baptized on March 19th, and he's really interested in our lessons and stuff. Last night we taught him the Plan of Salvation part 1 and the Word of Wisdom and he seemed pretty on board. Our teaching pool is great right now. We have 7 investigators with Baptismal dates, although I still haven't even met all of them. We're teaching a guy named Daylight Sakey (goes by Sakey) who Anziano Kimball says is super ready and willing to be baptized, but his work schedule is ridiculous, so we don't get to see him that much. I still haven't met him. We're also teaching an awesome guy named Sampson Omogun from Nigeria, who's making a lot of progress and it feels like he teaches us when we have lessons with him. He's so ready! But don't worry, we are also teaching some Italians. Currently we're teaching a guy named Fausto who is cool and seems interested, but he's not progressing quite as fast as some others. We're also teaching a guy named Giuseppe who is a 20s age guy who's studying law, he seems really cool, we're just trying to get him to read and pray before we start teaching him more often.

 

So anyway, teaching is going good. We usually only do finding work if appointments fall through, because our days are literally filled with teaching people! It's crazy. We have to take like half an hour at least every day to call people to confirm and set up appointments. Doing casa (knocking doors) is fun. One of my favorite things is when people say they aren't interested we still ask them if they know anyone who would be. Everyone always says "Ah, no, non conosco nessuno" (I don't know anybody). We kind of laugh and say "ah I'm sorry, buona giornata!" Also the bike I've been using for the past week was pretty trashy, for example the brakes were essentially non-existent. So I had to buy a new bike today, which is solid and should last a long time. I also got a good shoulder bag to use for going around.

 

Let's see, other news not much is going on. My first gelato was excellent, you can get three scoops in a cone for 2 euro! I got Nutella, Kit Kat, and Ferraro Rocher. So good. But that and the pizza the first night are about the only times I've eaten outside our apartment since getting here. Every morning I usually have toast with Nutella, water, and some clementines. Lunch we make pasta very often, and then we don't actually eat dinner. Today for P-Day we still need to do shopping, and then a reactivating member named Luca is taking us on a 30 minute tour of the Duomo here. Should be sweet! We taught him a lesson last night about the Melchizedek Priesthood, he's working towards getting that.

 

So this week I really liked praying. The second night before I went to sleep I was feeling pretty homesick, but I had a good long prayer and then many the next day to help. I love being here and I love working to bring people closer to Christ. My favorite way to cure homesickness is to teach a lesson, it reminds me why I'm here and how awesome the Gospel is! Anyway, that's all the news for this week, until next time!

 

Ciao!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith